The Jackson-Reed indoor track and field team maintained their reputation with a strong showing at this year’s DCSAA state indoor championship.
The Tigers put together a solid performance, with the girls finishing fourth overall and the boys placing fifth. Standout performances included the boys 4x800m relay, which won second and set a school record, and the girls 4x200m relay, which also won second and secured a national-qualifying result.
In a thrilling—but ultimately bittersweet—-finish, the boys 4x800m relay finished second to St. John’s by an incredibly slim margin. Both teams recorded times that broke the previous meet record, with the Tigers’ time of 8:14.95 falling just short of victory by 0.6.
Junior Mark Suardi, who ran the third leg of the 4×800, said the race had an unfortunate ending but is proud of the team’s effort. “We controlled the race from the start,” he said. Despite the result, the distance team is focusing on the smaller victories like the meet record. Suardi said it was a “pleasant surprise,” one that the team wasn’t even aiming for.
Other members of the boys distance team echoed this sentiment. Sophomore Arjun Bhat reflected on his fourth place finish in the 3200m, which fell just 1.2 seconds away from first place. “I know the time and the place wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but I think it was a valuable experience in this state championship,” Bhat said. He also acknowledged the strength of the field: “It was still a great experience to race with them because I know they’re really fast people and they’ve won state titles before.” Bhat emphasized that he’ll be using this loss for momentum going into the outdoor season.
Another highlight from the meet was the girls 4x200m second place finish. Their time of 1:46.11 broke the school record and was enough to qualify them for the New Balance Nationals in March. Third leg Olivia Purce said that the team “executed well for our first real relay, especially with the competition that we had. I think we held our own.”
Earlier this year, Purce competed with the same relay team in the DCIAA championship, running in the 4x400m instead of the 4x200m. They took home a decisive win and set a new meet record.
Purce emphasized that the team is not satisfied yet, and is gearing up to maintain a strong mindset ahead of nationals and the outdoor season. “We know that we have more left in the tank and we could do better than we did, so each time we step on the track we’re just planning to do better than we did last time,” she said. When asked about how the team is preparing for the outdoor season, Purce said the team is ready. “We have to practice, keep training, and even when we aren’t competing or even outside of school, we need to just work.” •
